6 Ways to Find a New Hobby

Having a hobby does more than passing the time when you're free from work and family obligations. A 2015 study showed that participating in hobbies and other leisure time activities resulted in participants having lower heart rates, less stress, and more happiness.

What is a hobby?

Hobbies make your life better and help you to focus and calm down after a long day of work or errands. You learn new things and develop new skills that can help you in daily life and may even help you explore another line of work.

A hobby can be anything from collecting stamps or coins to creative pursuits like singing or drawing. Participating in a softball or soccer league, swimming, golfing or other sports will keep you in shape, help you meet new people, and make you forget your problems for a few hours.

Most people claim they are too tired after working and running errands to do anything but sleep, watch TV or use social media, but a hobby can energize you and do a lot more.

Here are six ways to find a new hobby.

1. Expand on What You Already Like to Do

You may already indulge in a hobby and not realize it. Playing video games, going to the movies, or sampling cuisine from new restaurants in your city every weekend are enjoyable hobbies for many people.

Do you like to play poker with your best friend from college when she comes to visit? Consider turning that once or twice a year game into a year-round hobby.

If you like being outdoors, you can plan to go camping or hiking. It doesn't have to be anything too in-depth; a quick trip to the docks for a few hours of fishing is an easy hobby to pick up quickly!

Check out volunteer matching services like Volunteermatch.com if you have a charitable streak. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, care for shelter dogs, or tutor underserved children instead of merely giving money to your favorite non-profit organization.

2. Test Subscription Boxes to Find New Hobbies

A subscription box is a fun and cost-effective way to find a new hobby. It gives you samples you can use to experiment with different hobbies without investing too much money. A subscription box offers a variety of items, so you won't be limited to one area (art, sewing, sports) and can try out several hobbies with items from one box or a few boxes dedicated to different hobbies.

A subscription artist’s box may contain colored pencils, a plastic palette, a few tubes of paint and some paintbrushes. A subscription box for comic book and superhero fans may include a Spiderman vs. Green Goblin shirt, exclusive Marvel Collectors’ Corp Pin and Patch, an Inhumans vs. X-Men #1 Comic Book and a Bullseye/Daredevil POP 2-Pack.

A mystery fishing tackle box can help you if you’re interested in fishing but have no idea how to buy fishing tackle. Available monthly, quarterly, bi-annually or annually, these boxes are available in regular, pro or local varieties.

The local bait box contains bait based on the season, forage and local fish population. For the Pro option, choose your target species and the box will contain bait especially for it. You can select from bass, walleye or inshore saltwater fish.

A regular box includes more species than the Pro box, and you can choose the species you want. Walleye, bass, trout, panfish and inshore saltwater fish are a few of the featured species.

Regardless of your interest, a specialized subscription box can help you discover your new hobby with a minimum of fuss and save you money.

Subscription boxes take the guesswork out of finding the latest items to fulfill your hobby needs. All items are hand-picked by experts in the field to give you the most recent and popular tools so you’ll have a better time pursuing your new hobby.

Best of all, a subscription box keeps new items and ideas coming to you, which allows you to focus more on enjoying your prospective new hobby. Finding a new hobby through subscription boxes can feel extremely rewarding and exciting.

3. Relive Your Childhood

Think about the things you liked to do as a kid and teenager. You may have liked drawing, putting on plays in your backyard, or swimming. Start doing these things again as an adult in your spare time.

Reconnecting with the joy of childhood discovery will relieve stress and make you happier. Hobbies improve your self-esteem and are a great way to widen your social circle. You may even enter contests and win awards for your creativity or athletic prowess.

Look at some of your old school assignments or awards to pique your memory regarding your interests. Maybe you were a star on the debate team or a whiz at history but have forgotten those interests after you graduated. Consider ways to turn those high school or college interests into a grown-up hobby.

Maybe you loved to play video games as a kid but haven't played one in years. There's no reason you can't rekindle your interest in video or role-playing games as an adult. You might even work on an original cartoon, comic book or make a superhero costume to wear at a comic convention.

4. Experiment with Online and Offline Classes

Check out introductory free or low-cost classes at your local community college or from Udemy, Coursea.com or other online sources. You’ll get to sample different hobbies without investing too much time or money.

Make sure you choose the right teacher when you do decide to take ongoing classes to familiarize yourself with a hobby, The instructor should have a personality and teaching style that fits in with your needs. If not, choose another teacher – don't continue to take classes with an instructor who is too strict, or too informal, for your needs.

Don’t force yourself into a particular hobby because it’s convenient or cheap. A hobby should be something that makes your happy and comes naturally to you. Choose a hobby you like; never feel obligated to do something that doesn’t interest you because a friend or family member recommends it. The point of a hobby is to make you happier, more creative, and physically and mentally fit. Engaging in the wrong hobby for too long will only frustrate you.

When you find something that interests you, don’t make a full commitment until you’re sure the hobby will capture your interest for the long-term. Sing at a karaoke club a few times to make sure music will be a recurring hobby. Don’t buy a new piano or drum kit until you are convinced you won’t grow tired of singing or practicing after a few weeks.

Start out slow, and begin spending money as you get more familiar and comfortable with your new hobby. Experiment with hitting tennis balls with a used racket a few times a week if you like sports. Once you improve, then buy a brand-new racket or join a tennis club. Cultivate the interest and learn first. Spend money on material items later.

5. Join Hobby-Centric Groups and Forums

Instead of watching TV or browsing the internet at night and on weekends, spend time looking for new hobbies. Set aside 15 or 30 minutes a few times a week to explore potential hobbies. You won’t miss the time you spend looking at cat videos on Facebook, and you’ll learn new things and exercise your creativity.

The internet provides an excellent outlet for discovering new hobbies. Look at Facebook groups and pages dedicated to subjects you might be interested in, like golf, portrait painting or vinyl record collecting.

Treat a hobby board like any other internet forum. Refrain from divulging too much personal information, remain civil in your conversations and stick to talking about the subject at hand. You'll learn a lot, and get tips and tricks on how to make the most of the hobby right away.

By reading posts and discussing potential hobbies with other people, you’ll be able to find out what interests you and make new online friends in the process.

Talk to friends or relatives about what they do in their spare time. Learn a few recipes from the uncle who always cooks gourmet dinners for you, or play Monopoly and other board games with your neighbor. You may discover a lifelong hobby. At the very least, you spend a few hours learning something new and socializing.

There are lots of unusual, but rewarding hobbies, out there. You can choose to play trombone, bassoon, bagpipe or banjo instead of the more popular instruments. You can always rent or borrow instruments if you don't have the money to buy one.

You may want to become an aquarist and take care of tropical fish if you like animals but can't take care of a dog or cat. Some people keep snakes, frogs, hamsters, turtles or other out-of-the-ordinary mammals and reptiles as pets.

6. Match a Potential Hobby with Your Personality

Public speaking or singing may be the right hobby to match your personality if you’re the outgoing type. Introverts might like painting or writing poetry, while energetic, health-conscious people may take up tennis, golf or yoga.

Are you a creative person? Hobbies for creative people include:

Sculpting

Painting

Cooking

Baking

Cake Decorating

Woodcarving

Photography

Film-making

Knitting

Sewing

Gardening

Sports-minded individuals and people who want to get in shape might consider following unusual hobbies like curling, badminton, rugby, lacrosse, ping-pong, water polo, handball or squash.

Introverts can engage in poetry and novel writing, drawing, reading or sewing. Extroverts can sing, rap, dance, act or participate in poetry readings or “slams.”

There are many advantages to hobbies you may not have considered, and this applies to introverts and extroverts.

You'll meet new and exciting people, and some of them may even become close friends.

Your new hobby may turn into a side business or part-time job if you become good enough at it. You can sell your crafts or jewelry on Etsy, for example.

Hobbies make you feel excited about doing something, which results in a good kind of stress called eustress. This rush of excitement stimulates endorphins, feel-good hormones that make you happier.

When you're engaged in a hobby that you enjoy, time will fly by, and you won't even be aware that hours have passed. A hobby helps you stay firmly rooted in the present, and prevents you from worrying about the past or the future.

Mentally challenging hobbies like writing, reading, painting and solving crossword puzzles help keep your brain alert and may even protect against Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Some hobbies are fulfilling, but more passive than active. These hobbies include going to concerts, plays or art galleries. Rooting for your local sports teams and keeping track of their statistics is also a fun hobby for some people.

What are You Waiting For?

No matter what you choose, a new hobby can be invigorating and open new and exciting doors for you. If you find that life seems a bit dull or stagnant, this is the perfect way to change course and spark your interests. Start browsing through some categories and get started today!